Outrageous claim that homeopathy can be used as treatment for domestic abuse behavior

Sydney clinic Homeopathy Plus, for example, promotes the use of homeopathy for potentially fatal anaphylactic shock and post-childbirth infections and director Fran Sheffield said homeopathy can treat “excesses of human behaviour” including domestic violence.

The Homeopathy Plus website links to an article that claims homeopathy is “a safe and effective way to treat the victims as well as the culprits of domestic violence” and contains a list of remedies for both victims and perpetrators.

Asked whether she really believed homeopathy could treat domestic violence, Ms Sheffield told news.com.au that “uncontrollable rage and anger” were symptoms of an imbalance that homeopathy could fix.

Ms Sheffield said she had only treated one man for violence but believed she was successful.

Except there isn’t a whit of evidence that withstands any degree of scientific scrutiny to show that homeopathy works for this or, wait, that homeopathy works for anything AT ALL better than placebo. This is shameful

It is good to see TWO skeptical voices in this piece, Richard Saunders of Australian Skeptics and AMA President Dr Steve Hambleton who notes homeopathy is not “biologically plausible”. He also went so far as to call for sanctions against “outrageous claims”.

I think a lot of people dismiss alt med as being harmless – just some marks wasting money on placebos. This is a sad example of the potential harm it can do when people might forgo the real assistance and interventions they need because they’ve been persuaded by false hope sold by these practitioners. Fraudulent exploitation of the vulnerable is a reviled act in most cultures and I wish more people could see that 95% of alt med is exactly that.

Promoting this a a ‘treatment’ for spousal abuse is bad (very bad). Promoting water as a treatment for anaphylaxis or infections (post-partum or otherwise) is criminal.

William, unless somehow poor hydration causes “uncontrolled rage and anger”, homeopathy is again simply broadening their customer base. For those with with anger management issues, what’s better than finding a “cure”? A cure presupposes that my problem is caused by an ailment (or “imbalance”), so clearly it’s no longer my fault, my “imbalance” is causing this to happen. It’s not my fault; I’m ill.